I was really happy to hear you playing some Felix Lajko, but I was surprised to hear you say that in Hungary people have a choice between Gypsy (is that coffee-house gypsy music or folk?), jazz and classical violin. I think I've heard you play Marta Sebestyen before, so you know that the violin is central to Hungarian folk music, too, not to mention klezmer, which is also part of the music scene here.

Lajko comes from one of the many Hungarian minority communities across the southern border, and I think you can feel that in his music, too, especially in his earlier stuff. But you are right, he is out in a class of his own.

On the subject of mixing styles, and bearing in mind that Belgian band you played on the 24th, was it Va fan Fahre? While exceptional bands are sadly a bit few and far between in Hungary these days, Beshodrom is an exception. I saw them at a festival this summer. Have you heard any of their stuff? A crazy mix of styles with a Hungarian/Balkan feel. If you haven't and you are interested I will happily send you some, just let me know.

Something odd happened to this thread, which neither Zee nor I could get to the bottom of. It disappeared, while still existing, hidden away. I've sort of solved it by moving the entire thread to a new location, which just happens to be where it was before. Don't know why it works, but it seems to.

There are two quirks:
(a) the thread loses my opening introduction, so now it seems as if Nikki has started it off, no bad thing you may agree
(b) the visitor count is set back to zero, so we lose evidence of how many people viewed the thread till now.

Anyway, this soon becomes history as we start a new run of two weeks in November and another pair in December

If we can include Wales in the international dimension, how about putting a track from Fernhill's latest Na Pradle in your next playlist for R3? A beautifully atmospheric live album recorded at a former laundry in Prague. Julie Murphy's voice has been recorded at its best and the backing of her partner Ceri on guitar and Tomos Harris on a sympathetic muted trumpet make this Fernhill's best to date. I would suggest track 1 - Whilia as a starting point.
Russell